Whistleblowers Demand Greater Protection After Masood’s Death

The murder of Shehla Masood last week stoked fresh fears among Right-to-Information activists, who renewed demands for greater state protection.

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Survivors of 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy gathered outside the Prime Minister’s office to file a Right-to-Information petition in New Delhi in May 2010.

Ms. Masood, an environmental and anti-corruption activist, was shot dead outside her home in Bhopal, in India’s central state of Madhya Pradesh, on Tuesday. Ms. Masood joins a growing list of RTI activists who many say have been targeted because of the information they gathered under the law.

The 2005 Right-to-Information Act allows Indian citizens to file requests for information to most government bodies. Through RTI requests, activists have often uncovered illicit activities and this has made them targets of threats and violence. Many feel too little has been done to safeguard whistleblowers.

“I think it is very risky and unsafe for activists to work for civil rights in India, especially in Madhya Pradesh,” RTI activist Ajay Dubey, who is also based in Bhopal, said in an interview on Friday.

Mr. Dubey is the founding member of Prayatna, an activist group of which Ms. Masood was an active member. RTI requests have been their main weapon. Mr. Dubey says that he alone has filed “more than 5,000” RTI applications, on issues ranging from industrial pollution to police reforms. One particularly successful RTI request, Mr. Dubey said, led to the closure of illegal mines in his home state.

Mr. Dubey, who described Ms. Masood as “one of the leading activists in Madhya Pradesh,” is sure her death is linked to her activism, and suspects it may have to do with her campaign in support of tiger conservation. Others, including Manoor Sachdev, a friend of Ms. Masood, instead suggested her death may have to do with her anti-corruption work.

Police said it’s too early to say. “We are still investigating the case and we are not in a position to say what is the reason behind the attack,” superintendent of police Adarsh Katiyar said in a phone interview from Bhopal on Wednesday.

Mr. Dubey blamed Ms. Masood’s murder – the first of an RTI activist in Madhya Pradesh – on the lack of state protection. He is also concerned about what could happen to RTI activists like himself. “There is no provision to protect activists; this puts RTI activists in particular danger since they often collect evidence that can cause problems for corrupt officials.”

Mr. Dubey says he’s pressing the state government to implement a law aimed at protecting whistleblowers. This is something Ms. Masood herself had been campaigning for — in February last year, she wrote about “the need for a Whistle-blower (Protection) Act in India” on her blog.

Family members and fellow activists have filed a request to the Indian government demanding the Central Bureau of Investigation, the country’s top investigative body, to probe Ms. Masood’s death. The request is currently under consideration, a spokesman for the Madhya Pradesh government said Friday.

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